


Fears

by Jdkwinxgrl



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Emotions, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Shapeshifting, Suspense, The Unversed (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas feeds on emotions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 04:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jdkwinxgrl/pseuds/Jdkwinxgrl
Summary: Vanitas is an unversed with little memories of his past life, driven by an innate desire to seek out darkness. While rebuilding strength at the Monster’s Inc Factory, a door leads him to a certain brown haired boy tucked away in bed…
Relationships: Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	Fears

**Author's Note:**

> Vanitas’ pronouns in this are he/it. His identity is on the rocks, so I used either one when it felt more appropriate to the scene.

It could feel itself reforming in the darkness. A chorus of screams rang through him like a wide insulated chamber. It didn’t know whom that scream belonged. A child, maybe?

It was hard to form coherent thoughts when your heart was in pieces.

After a few months it’d managed to acquire the form of a very small Unversed. This world… it’d never seen it before. There were monsters of all shapes and sizes, doors of many shades and designs. Everything was big and loud and harsh: the clanging of machinery, the shuffling of taloned feet and the slamming of doors, clicking clacking knobs. All so overwhelming to a creature so small and insignificant.

It scampered and fretted around, trying not to get stepped on or noticed.

_“Whoa! Watch it there!”_

_“Eek! What is that thing?!”_

_“An CDA violation waiting to happen, that’s for sure.”_

_“Is it a small cat? Who let a cat loose?!”_

A few of those lumbering monsters had started pursuing it. Adrenaline kicked in as it dashed down the hallway, weaving between claws and tails.

_Don’t get caught caught no cannot escape escape escapesc **aPE-** _

The creature’s mind raced. One monster made a dive for it and it managed to leap out of her sharp nails.

“Ow!” She hit the ground with a bang. The Unversed paused to snicker at the misfortune before scampering off. It heard the darkness beckon him from a room down the hall, and without much time to think, it jumped into the shadow underneath a door frame.

The group of monsters rounded the corner and darted their eyes around, Unversed unseen.

“You go to the left, I’ll take the right!” He said. The other monster nodded, and they both ran off.

Meanwhile, the Unversed had found itself in a dark room filled from floor to ceiling with yellow monsters. For a moment, it thought that it had exchanged one enemy for another, a thousand red eyes focused in on him. The enemy made no movements. Curious, its twitching body stalked closer.

These were canisters. The Unversed could feel energy radiating off of them, specifically Negative Emotions. Its heart hungered for the contents.

Unable to open the container, it prodded its head against the metal. With its face directly pressed against it, it could hear faint screams, whirling around inside like banshees. It began absorbing energy into itself in order to repair its damaged heart. Fear. It was truly a strong emotion.

_Big teeth sharp claws coming, approaching, low rumble growl, hiss quick motion corner eye-_

Yes, such emotions enhanced his darkness nicely.

* * *

It must’ve been luck that the Unversed had chosen a seldom accessed storage room, since long stretches of time had passed before another monster disturbed it. The Unversed had made progress, and was now able to adjust its form somewhat.

The doors suddenly opened and the Unversed darted into the shadows. It watched from behind a well placed canister.

“Oi, what are all these empty containers doing in what is supposed to be a scream storage unit?” A monster asked another.

“Well, if they aren’t full they aren’t full! Jacques must’ve made an error with the unit number in the shipment papers, ” The second monster replied, tapping the sheets on his clipboard.

“Jacques! Of course, it’s always that guy, isn’t it...? Well, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we can have someone do a check on this room to make sure everything’s in order.” She received a nod from her coworker in reply.

The first monster grumbled to herself as she pushed the large transporter on wheels away. The other followed suit, leaving the Unversed all alone in darkness once again. Monsters? Monsters bring more monsters? Its more pitiful instincts cried out.

_Found vulnerable no hide HIDE. Grow hide heal hide safe stagnant bad. GO._

The desire to grow stronger won out over any fear and weakness in its tiny heart. From what it understood, this hideout was no longer going to be a viable option. Perhaps it was time to explore.

Having found the main working area, it was able to watch from the rafters and in the shadows. Over the next few weeks, it observed the monsters scared these children through the use of a conveyor system and many doors. It’d found out where they stored more of their screams and had devised a system for accessing them through a combination of the air vents and shadow hopping. Switching it up was necessary in order to not draw suspicion.

After closing, it had managed to get everything working, catering the machine to its barely cognate whims.

It could turn into whatever these children feared with perfect ease by listening to the negative emotions radiating from their hearts. Its form was malleable, darkness wrapped around a fractured soul.

Fear smelled like fresh raw meat, like pitiful prey. If it could sense a kid was afraid of spiders, the Unversed would grow eight legs and multiple eyes to peer down at the child. Seeing them scream, it would absorb their fear and feel itself grow a little stronger. It was almost _too_ easy to garner power.

Its next meal led him to a quiet room clothed in the ink of night, the shadows of palm trees cast onto the floor through the windows. This kid was sound asleep, a head of brown hair nestled beneath the covers.

It allowed its small Unversed form to shift, peeking into the vulnerable heart. The darkness within shifted and when it settled... it was still an Unversed? Why didn’t it change?

Confused, it failed to notice the toy on the floor, making a squeaking noise when its paw stepped on it.

The child shifted in the bed. The Unversed froze. Oh no.

“Hmm? What are you?” The boy was slowly pulled from sleep by curiosity and confusion. He blinked, the image more clear.

The Unversed couldn’t answer.

“Unversed?” The little boy asked. The creature slowly nodded and twitched its ears. It was not lowering its guard for one second, cautious of the fact that this child knew of its name. Was this child a part of its past?

The more it stood there unmoving, the bigger the chance the child would approach it and no, it was not letting that happen. It scampered for the doorway only to find that its body wasn’t changing. Desperately, it tried to reform, however, usually when it left it had just eaten a meal. Its paws reached up – the door handle just out of reach.

“But Unversed, isn’t that…” The child squinted, as if trying to remember. Suddenly, the creature felt the darkness shift and pull at its skin, its body tugged and molded into something else. The child’s fear was changing, forcing it into a different form. It realized what Unversed meant. It meant–

“ _Vanitas…?_ ”

For the first time since its rebirth, the monster could recall _his_ name. Some memories came back as he prodded at his clothes and tried to regain himself. Keyblade wielder Vanitas.

… whatever a keyblade may be.

His form was still lacking, his identity nebulous and face a mess of darkness. The eyes were red and almost unblinking, staring out blankly from the pit of black.

The child inched away from the figure as his heart beat began to quicken. It slowly turned its head towards him. Before he could scream and release his heightened fear, his hand was cupped around his mouth.

A weak, but poignant pulse of comfort pushed over his heart in full waves. Something told him that it was alright to be afraid, yet showing that fear was not an option here. The sensation was warm and gave the little boy an odd burst courage. It was crucial that he did not falter.

“My name’s… my name’s Sora,” Sora said hesitantly. If the monster had a name, the monster would be less scary to him. “You’re Vanitas?”

The figure, hunched over near the ground, tilted its head at him.

_Van… i…tasssss…._

A distorted voice hissed directly into Sora’s head, sending a shiver down Sora’s spine. He clutched at his bed sheet covers.

It tasted the air. This fear was deep and personal, stronger than the average child. There was something special about this boy, something familiar, but in its more primitive state, it could not discern what. It only knew that it was only receiving the smallest drop of it.

“I don’t, don’t know how I know that, but um, are you here to hurt me?” Sora asked. The expressionless creature held Sora’s gaze for a moment, staring through the boy and right into his core. Its shoulders slowly started to bob up and down, breath as chilled and sharp as a piece of ice as it inhaled and exhaled.

Inside his mind, the breathing turned into what could barely be called a laugh, the sounds full of such odd highs and lows, pitch strained: it started to hurt Sora’s head. He winced and his hands flew up to cover his ears. He closed his eyes to block out everything else. Was it that funny?!

Sudden silence.

Eyes opened to see red. Sora let out a short screech, before covering his mouth once again. It had quickly scrambled up onto the bed and now sat uncomfortably close. There was no escape. His heart rate soared.

_Give fear eat hurt harm harm strength scare feed scream._

Vanitas’ darkness now started to seep out of the veins in his body, absorbing the negative emotions and fright from Sora. Perhaps he would break this confusing young heart, after all. All he needed now was a scream.

Sora shivered. It was so cold, so so cold and empty, and it was _waiting_. Hungry, probably! Sora imagined young frightened boys were its favourite meal. Riku was right and monsters did exist!

That weak presence snatched a hold of that train of thought in Sora’s heart before it could disappear. Sora’s attention was drawn there. He tried to block out the monster to focus... Try as he might, he sadly still could not understand what it meant. Not giving up, the sleeping heart emboldened the feelings around Riku, concentrating warmth there. 

Sora rapidly blinked away the tears starting to form.

**_Of course, that's it!_ **

“Do you, um, want to be my friend?” Sora asked.

_Friend? Friend? Weak isn’t power strength friends friends own Sora always its buy buy buy some own atleast strength I your have us friends?_

“Yeah, I can be your friend,” The young boy smiled. He really only understood half of that, hoping his true intent got across. Vanitas withdrew slightly, confused.

Sora’s feelings had started to change. Once having filled him with chilling fear, it was now teetering off into something coated in _warmth_ and _summer,_ the faintest whiff of a playful _wind_. He’d forgotten to stop feeding off of the child’s emotions and accidentally absorbed a few positive feelings into his heart. His stomach lurched.

_Disgusting._

Vanitas growled and slunk back to the doorway. Sora experienced some relief from the distance, still unsure whether or not they were on good terms. He sure hoped they were. Thinking about it, having a monster as a friend would be pretty neat!

Vanitas reached for the door handle.

“Are you leaving?” A voice from behind made him hesitate. He should not be tempted by Positive feelings. They would only weaken him.

Vanitas shook the presence from his thoughts and left the boy’s room by becoming one with the shadows. 

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Dunno if anyone caught it, but when Vanitas replied, it was a mashup of the question Vanitas posed to Ventus and the sick burn he responded with at the end of BBS.


End file.
